The Hero with a Thousand Faces

In his later years, Joe was fond of recalling on how Schopenhauer, in his essay On the Apparent Intention in the Fate of the Individual, wrote of the curious feeling one can have, of there being an author somewhere writing the novel of our lives, in such a way that through events that seem to us to be chance happenings there is actually a plot unfolding of which we have no knowledge.

Looking back over Joe’s life, one cannot help but feel that it proves the truth Schopenhauer’s observation.

Robert Walter

San Anselmo, California

March 26, 2004

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This edition was prepared by the Joseph Campbell Foundation (JCF) as part of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell (Robert Walter, executive editor; David Kudler, managing editor). All notes marked [Ed.] originated with the JCF editors.

It was derived from the 2008 print Third Edition, published by New World Library. New World Library’s editor was Jason Gardner.

The bibliography appears courtesy of the Opus Archive and Research Center, which reserves all rights thereto.

Images of C.G. Jung and Sigmund Freud appear with the permission of HIP/Art Resource, New York.

Image of Franz Boas (page 13) appears with the permission of the Phoebe E. Hearst Museum and the Regents of the University of California.

All other images and quotations appear with the permission of their copyright holders, except where they belong to the public domain. See the endnotes and the illustration list for sources.

Image research assistance was provided by Sabra Moore, by Diana Brown, M.A., and by the associates of the JCF.

ILLUSTRATIONS LIST

Figure 1. Medusa (carved marble, Roman, Italy, date uncertain). From the Rondanini Palace, Rome. Collection of the Glyptothek, Munich. Photo from H. Brunn and F. Bruckmann, Denkmäler griechischer und römischer Sculptur, Verlagsanstalt für Kunst und Wissenschaft, Munich, 1888–1932.

Figure 2. Viṣṇu Dreaming the Universe (carved stone, India, c. a.d. 400–700). Dasavatara Temple (Temple of the Ten Avatars). Deogarh, Central India. Archeological Survey of India, courtesy of Mrs. A.K. Coomaraswamy.

Figure 3. Sileni and Maenads (black-figure amphora, Hellenic, Sicily, c. 500–450 b.c.). Found in a grave at Gela, Sicily. Monu-menti Antichi, pubblicati per cura della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, vol. XVII, Milan, 1907, plate XXXVII.

Figure 4. Minotauromachy(red-figure krater, Greece, c. 470 b.c.). Here Theseus kills the Minotaur with a short sword; this is the usual version in the vase paintings. In the written accounts, the hero uses his bare hands. Collection des vases grecs de M. le Comte de Lamberg, expliquée et publiée par Alexandre de la Borde, Paris, 1813, plate XXX.

Figure 5. Shintō Fire Ritual (photograph by Joseph Campbell, Japan, a.d. 1956). [On May 21, 1956, Campbell attended a ritual in Kyøtø, Japan, conducted by a group of Yamabushi (mountain wizards). For more about this event, see Joseph Campbell, Sake and Satori: Asian Journals — Japan, Novato, CA: New World Library, 2002, pp. 119–126. — Ed.] © Joseph Campbell Foundation (www.jcf.org).